EDIT: I've had a some people react quite badly to this comic. Some even found it a little distressing that I've taken Twilight's horn away (Wounded veterans have been been mentioned in the comments).

When I first wrote this comic, my vision was that this was an academic exercise set by Celestia to help Twilight to better relate to other ponies, as well as to better understand herself. So I've updated the text to clearly state that this fact.

I've also tidied up the page a little. Still the original vectors, though.

This edit means that some of the following pages might sound a little odd.

Original Description

I know that it doesn't look much, but this is my most ambitious Pony comic to date. I've tried to use as many original components as I can (Inkscape and Photoshop), but you might recognize some old favorites from other (more talented) authors.

This comic was inspired by the episode Winter Wrap-Up, where Twilight tries to get by without using her Magic, but in the end she uses it even though she isn't supposed to.

Princess Celestia sent Twilight to Ponyville in order to get to know other ponies, and to discover life outside of her books and magic, but in most episodes she seems to solve problems using books and magic.

Twilight solved three simple problems with magic, that any Earth Pony could have solved using their hooves. She used her magic instinctively.

Princess Celestia wants her to find a way to do things without using magic, and to see things from other pony's perspectives.

She's not being cruel (and this is supposed to be the "real" Celestia). She's trying to help Twilight to explore the other things that make Twilight Sparkle who she is.

Anything that isn't directly attributed to somebody is either based on an image from the show's advertizing material for the show, or is scratch drawn (Some things are a combination of the two). I didn't use General Zoi's Pony Creator for any of this (yay).

As you can see from the “Cyclops” pony in frame 7, I'm still getting to grips with Inkscape, and Ponies in general.

Frame 1, Scootaloo's expression is based on this image (bobthelurker.deviantart.com/ar…). Frame 3 and 4: Background (gameguy001.deviantart.com/art/…). Frame 5: Rainbow Dash is Angry Rainbow Dash by 90Sigma (90sigma.deviantart.com/art/Ang…). Derpy's Cutie Mark is by Ooklah (ooklah.deviantart.com/art/Cuti…). Frame 6: The background is from the show itself. Frame 7: Background is Library Upper Floors (Twilight's Bedroom) by DaringDashie (daringdashie.deviantart.com/ar…). Frame 8: Sorry, I'm being really lazy here. This is from the show itself. I wonder how Celestia is writing that letter without using her magic (no glow?). Frame 9: This one is based on a couple of different images. Including Veggie55's Rainy Days (veggie55.deviantart.com/art/Ra…) and Library Upper Floors (Twilight's Bedroom) by DairingDashie (daringdashie.deviantart.com/ar…). I used them both as a base. One for the window and the other for the curtain, along with some tweaks. Also based on the original image from the show. Frame 10 and 11: Same as above. Frame 12: Same as Frame 8. Frame 13 and 14: Same as Frame 9.

I know, but I don't understand the whole 'Get your Cutie Mark back as an Earth Pony' Thing. If her special talent is magic, she would either get it immediately (Since every pony has magic) or never get it (because she isn't a unicorn)

I've been reading the comic, and I have to say... Celestia's an Idiot. Her reason's for what she's done may be 'good' in her mind, but let's actually look at what she just did.

Twilight is the Bearer of the Element of Magic. Her horn, Cutie Mark and magic are part of who she is. All of these things make her who she is.

What Celestia has truly done, is commit the most heinous of crimes; She has stolen Twilight's identity. She has taken that which made Twilight the pony she is. She has rendered all the lesson's Twilight has learned POINTLESS. Twilight is who she is because of her magic, her friends and all the lesson's they've learned together.

Maybe Twilight is relying too much on her magic, but that's still no excuse for what Celestia did.

Would she be the same pony had her talent been different?Would she have met all her friends? Would she have made the exact same choices?

Her magic may not be the PRIMARY thing to make her who she is, but it still plays a big part. Specifically, the beginning. Her magic exam, in which she had discovered her talent, started her on the path that would lead her to her friends and all the lessons she would come to learn.

The beginning is important, and the end we seek to reach. However, it's the Journey we take through life that determines who we are. The friends we make, the lessons we learn and the problems we face.

Remember the Sonic Rainboom? All of the mane character got their Cutie Mark on the same day, at the same time.

That smells like destiny. Destiny would probably have conspired to make that happen if Twilight's talent had been any one of her other interests.

Twilight could have gotten into Celestia's school for gifted unicorns based on all sorts of other things. Look at the other ponies who were there. Many of them used magic for their special skill, but it wasn't their magic that got them there. It was the skill itself.

It's not a magic academy, after all.

For example, Lyra's gift is music. She was on a music scholarship.

Maybe Celestia did wrong, but I'm not really exploring that here. For me, Celestia is just a plot device to explain why Twilight doesn't have her magic or her Cutie Mark.

Really, it could have been anything from a spell gone wrong to a magical villain.

I chose Celestia for two reasons:

1) Because she would have the power to do it2) Because I wanted the main plot of the comic to be about Twilight being without her Magic rather than the reason that she didn't have it\getting it back.

If a villain did, then I'd have to have Twilight beat the villain. And I didn't want that kind of story.

Finding the problem and then figuring out a solution to it is something Twilight's been doing across the whole series (to varying degrees of success). Celestia even provided the tool needed to bypass Sombra's protections (which it should be noted couldn't have been done without magic). She did *not* take away a pivotal point of Twilight's very self.

Celestia could simply have told Twilight to go tot he Crystal Empire, and to find the Crystal Heart. It would have made things a lot simpler.

Twilight wasted a lot of time "figuring out the solution". If she had been properly briefed she could have been using that time to find the Crystal Heart.

If Twilight hadn't figured it out then thousands of ponies would have been enslaved and there would probably have been an all out war between Sombre and Equestria. Lots of death, lots of suffering.

That's a lot of responsibility to dump on Twilight.

How would you feel if Obama pulled you out of class and told you that he was sending you on a mission to stop a terrorist attack on a certain city, but he forgot to mention whether it was a bomb, or a gun attack, or a hijacking?

Now, imagine he told you that you needed to find a hobby that didn't involve Japanese animation or illustration (Manga and Anime that feature quite a bit on your user profile, which is pretty much all that I know about you. So it's the only example that I can think of right now), as you needed to explore different interests.

One's pretty personal, and the other could kill hundreds of people.

Read pages 14 and 40 (when it's uploaded). They will make things clearer.